Seasonal Workers

Many businesses take on extra staff for the summer months.

What follows is a top level view of the major pitfalls to avoid to remain onside with employment law. 

If you employ summer staff directly rather than via an agency, they are almost certainly going to be considered in employment law terms as fixed term employees  (FTEs) and they will be covered by the 2002 Fixed-Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations. 

A fixed-term employee, for these purposes, is one employed under a contract that expires either on the expiry of a specific term (has an end date), on the completion of a specific task (e.g when the harvest is in) or on the occurrence or non-occurrence of any other specific event (e.g when the fairground shuts for rest of the year or when renewed funding for a project is not forthcoming).
  
The main thrust of the regulations is that FTEs are entitled to the same wages, conditions, benefits and training as permanent employees who do the same work. If they are treated less favourably than equivalent permanent employees, this will be unlawful unless it can be objectively justified. Justification can include the argument that the FTE’s overall package is equivalent to that of permanent employees, or that the cost of providing a particular benefit (e.g training) would be disproportionate. If you have no employees who do the same or broadly similar work, then FTEs cannot bring a claim based on the Regulations. If you have pay or other discrepancies amongst your seasonal staff though, you could fall foul of the law if they are found to be based on gender, race, age or any other form of unlawful discrimination.     

As with permanent staff, FTEs are entitled to a written statement of terms and conditions.

The minimum wage applies to fixed term employees. If payment includes benefit in kind (eg meals), or deductions are made for accommodation, there are restrictions on the amount that can be offset against the minimum wage and advice should be obtained. 

The legislation aimed at preventing illegal working in the UK also applies and the same process of checking documentation should be used as for permanent employees.

If a summer job has a fixed end date then the contract will end on that date as a matter of course, but it is advisable to remind employees of the impending end date shortly before it comes up and to inform them of any permanent vacancies you may have. If the contract comes to an end for any reason before the end date, they are entitled to statutory notice (one week after one month of service).
     
If you use agency workers without employing them directly, then for the main part the rights of the staff are the responsibility of the agency. It should not be forgotten though that the end user can be held liable for any unlawful discrimination suffered by an agency worker and that the rights of agency workers will be strengthened by legislation coming into effect in October 2011.